zen_bliss
05-29-2003, 04:05 AM
i found this to be what i was looking for and wanted to share it --
http://www.chariotsatp.co.uk/atp.htm i came by it from an old post in the archives. wow, these boards are great for information.... i am still curious about the 'shopping wheel' for the terrain, listed only in europe http://www.onetreehilleurope.com/mountainterrain/accessories/shop.html
in case the link dies, here's the text, copied & pasted (slightly excerpted), for your reading pleasure...
******
Swivel Wheel versus Fixed Wheel
There may be some confusion over the different types of front wheel available on three wheeled pushchairs, these notes are intended to help you decide which is best for you.
A pushchair with a swivel wheel makes a pushchair supremely manoeuvrable it feels an absolute dream to turn effortlessly...on the smooooth carpeted floor of the showroom.
They are good, and when Mountain Buggy do it with the Urban there's no doubt about it, it really is excellent for someone who walks in town on paved surfaces with perhaps the occasional foray onto a hard dirt path at the local park.
To begin with when shopping in town you rarely go very far in one direction you are constantly manoeuvring around obstacles, pedestrians etc. or turning at right angles between shop displays. You are constantly having to steer the pushchair and a swivel wheel is ideal for the job.
BUT...take a swivel wheel pushchair off road and you may regret buying it.
Away from the bustle of the town for most of the time you are walking in broadly the same direction you rarely need to make sharp turns, not only don't you need to steer all of the time but you don't want to have to steer - just push.
A swivel wheel pushchair has to be constantly steered whereas a fixed wheel pushchair can just be pushed with the occasional minor adjustment with light pressure to one side on the handle. To have to steer a pushchair constantly is hard work, seriously hard work, not something you want to do all the time you are walking.
Then there's the supermarket shopping trolley effect - just as you struggle to take it where you want it to go rather than where the cracks in the pavement take it, so will a swivel wheel pushchair be directed by uneven ground against your wishes. Faced with a slope across its path a swivel wheel pushchair will want to go down the hill not across it !
Ah-ha ! I hear you cry...but you can lock the swivel wheel on an Mountain Buggy Urban.
Of course you can, the problem is that a locked swivel wheel is not the same as a fixed wheel for two reasons:
* A fixed wheel pushchair is designed with minimal weight distribution over the front wheel because otherwise it would be difficult to steer. For a swivel wheel pushchair weight distribution is irrelevent and therefore...higher (see weight test below). When you lock a swivel wheel you don't get a fixed wheel you get something which is difficult to steer.
* One fault you can get on a fixed wheel pushchair is if the front wheel is not pointing precisely straight because the pushchair veers and requires constant correction (Mountain Buggy have very helpfully built in an adjustment mechanism on their fixed wheel models so that you don't have to suffer this). When you lock a swivel wheel it does not lock it precisely straight, there is sufficient 'play' for the pushchair to veer, to wander, requiring constant adjustment - this isn't just Mountain Buggy it's true of all makes.
So before you buy your pushchair and to avoid disappointment we strongly recommend that you seriously think through what your walking patterns will be and where you are less willing to compromise performance.
For guidance we suggest:
Buy a Mountain Buggy Urban with its swivel wheel if your trips are almost exclusively on paved surfaces with the occasion undemanding hard dirt path or toe path.
Buy a Mountain Buggy Terrain if your paved surface trips (however frequent) are of short duration - you may have driven to town rather than walked there - BUT you do need it to work properly on rough ground
Weight Test
We did some tests to find out how the weight distributions differed between the Urban & Terrain front wheels.
The Urban passed 35% of its weight to the front wheel, the Terrain only 25%.
When we added a 10kg load to each pushchair the increase in front wheel weight was 25% greater on the Urban than the Terrain.
The Urban weighs 1.7kg more than the Terrain Zip Hammock to start with.
Can I use a Mountain Buggy All Terrain Pushchair from Birth ?
Yes and there are a variety of ways of doing it.
With the optional Clipon Carrycot fitted your All Terrain Pushchair converts to a 'pram' allowing your baby to lay flat - which is what health professional recommend for new borns. There is even a Clipon Twin Carrycot for the Mountain Buggy double pushchairs !
Alternatively you could chose to have your Mountain Buggy with the Recline Seat which will recline to within 15 degrees of horizontal, or use the Car Seat Clips to mount a car seat (most leading brands fit, e.g. Britax) - but neither of these is as ideal as the Carrycot.
Can I fit a Buggy Board or Kiddy Board to a Pegasus Pushchair ?
Yes you can fit a Kiddy Board and Mountain Buggy are probably unique amoung pushchair manufacturers in actually recommending them - although it will compromise the pushchair's 'All Terrain' capabilities (the small wheels don't work well on soft ground). The Buggy Board brand will fit but it interfers with your operation of the brake.
Please be aware though that a Kiddy Board will not work if the pushchair seat is reclined. It works with the Carrycot or a Car Seat and with the standard seat when upright on the Urban model only with it's newly designed handle. The Terrain models will be available with the new Kiddy Board friendly handle in early 2003.
http://www.chariotsatp.co.uk/atp.htm i came by it from an old post in the archives. wow, these boards are great for information.... i am still curious about the 'shopping wheel' for the terrain, listed only in europe http://www.onetreehilleurope.com/mountainterrain/accessories/shop.html
in case the link dies, here's the text, copied & pasted (slightly excerpted), for your reading pleasure...
******
Swivel Wheel versus Fixed Wheel
There may be some confusion over the different types of front wheel available on three wheeled pushchairs, these notes are intended to help you decide which is best for you.
A pushchair with a swivel wheel makes a pushchair supremely manoeuvrable it feels an absolute dream to turn effortlessly...on the smooooth carpeted floor of the showroom.
They are good, and when Mountain Buggy do it with the Urban there's no doubt about it, it really is excellent for someone who walks in town on paved surfaces with perhaps the occasional foray onto a hard dirt path at the local park.
To begin with when shopping in town you rarely go very far in one direction you are constantly manoeuvring around obstacles, pedestrians etc. or turning at right angles between shop displays. You are constantly having to steer the pushchair and a swivel wheel is ideal for the job.
BUT...take a swivel wheel pushchair off road and you may regret buying it.
Away from the bustle of the town for most of the time you are walking in broadly the same direction you rarely need to make sharp turns, not only don't you need to steer all of the time but you don't want to have to steer - just push.
A swivel wheel pushchair has to be constantly steered whereas a fixed wheel pushchair can just be pushed with the occasional minor adjustment with light pressure to one side on the handle. To have to steer a pushchair constantly is hard work, seriously hard work, not something you want to do all the time you are walking.
Then there's the supermarket shopping trolley effect - just as you struggle to take it where you want it to go rather than where the cracks in the pavement take it, so will a swivel wheel pushchair be directed by uneven ground against your wishes. Faced with a slope across its path a swivel wheel pushchair will want to go down the hill not across it !
Ah-ha ! I hear you cry...but you can lock the swivel wheel on an Mountain Buggy Urban.
Of course you can, the problem is that a locked swivel wheel is not the same as a fixed wheel for two reasons:
* A fixed wheel pushchair is designed with minimal weight distribution over the front wheel because otherwise it would be difficult to steer. For a swivel wheel pushchair weight distribution is irrelevent and therefore...higher (see weight test below). When you lock a swivel wheel you don't get a fixed wheel you get something which is difficult to steer.
* One fault you can get on a fixed wheel pushchair is if the front wheel is not pointing precisely straight because the pushchair veers and requires constant correction (Mountain Buggy have very helpfully built in an adjustment mechanism on their fixed wheel models so that you don't have to suffer this). When you lock a swivel wheel it does not lock it precisely straight, there is sufficient 'play' for the pushchair to veer, to wander, requiring constant adjustment - this isn't just Mountain Buggy it's true of all makes.
So before you buy your pushchair and to avoid disappointment we strongly recommend that you seriously think through what your walking patterns will be and where you are less willing to compromise performance.
For guidance we suggest:
Buy a Mountain Buggy Urban with its swivel wheel if your trips are almost exclusively on paved surfaces with the occasion undemanding hard dirt path or toe path.
Buy a Mountain Buggy Terrain if your paved surface trips (however frequent) are of short duration - you may have driven to town rather than walked there - BUT you do need it to work properly on rough ground
Weight Test
We did some tests to find out how the weight distributions differed between the Urban & Terrain front wheels.
The Urban passed 35% of its weight to the front wheel, the Terrain only 25%.
When we added a 10kg load to each pushchair the increase in front wheel weight was 25% greater on the Urban than the Terrain.
The Urban weighs 1.7kg more than the Terrain Zip Hammock to start with.
Can I use a Mountain Buggy All Terrain Pushchair from Birth ?
Yes and there are a variety of ways of doing it.
With the optional Clipon Carrycot fitted your All Terrain Pushchair converts to a 'pram' allowing your baby to lay flat - which is what health professional recommend for new borns. There is even a Clipon Twin Carrycot for the Mountain Buggy double pushchairs !
Alternatively you could chose to have your Mountain Buggy with the Recline Seat which will recline to within 15 degrees of horizontal, or use the Car Seat Clips to mount a car seat (most leading brands fit, e.g. Britax) - but neither of these is as ideal as the Carrycot.
Can I fit a Buggy Board or Kiddy Board to a Pegasus Pushchair ?
Yes you can fit a Kiddy Board and Mountain Buggy are probably unique amoung pushchair manufacturers in actually recommending them - although it will compromise the pushchair's 'All Terrain' capabilities (the small wheels don't work well on soft ground). The Buggy Board brand will fit but it interfers with your operation of the brake.
Please be aware though that a Kiddy Board will not work if the pushchair seat is reclined. It works with the Carrycot or a Car Seat and with the standard seat when upright on the Urban model only with it's newly designed handle. The Terrain models will be available with the new Kiddy Board friendly handle in early 2003.